Trevor Horn / Reimagines: The Eighties

New album • SIGNED copies available • Guest vocalists

Legendary producer Trevor Horn, often credited with ‘inventing the 80s’, now ‘reimagines’ the decade with a newly announced album of eighties classics recorded with ‘the Sarm Orchestra’ and a string of guest vocalists including Robbie Williams, Seal and Tony Hadley.Reimagines: The Eighties (feat. The Sarm Orchestra) has some similarities with the recently announced 80s Symphonic album in that it contains big hits rearranged with an orchestral element, but on Trevor’s album these are new recordings from the ground up and nothing from the original track is in the mix. Also, Horn has the pedigree to make this a more interesting exercise.

Tracks include Tears For Fears‘ classic ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ (sung by Robbie Williams), ‘Ashes to Ashes’ (featuring Seal), ‘Slave To The Rhythm’ (with Rumer), and ‘What’s Love Got To Do With It’ (Tony Hadley). Some have no guest vocalist which means either Trevor takes over vocal duties (he’s a good singer, of course) or they are instrumentals.

The album will be released (on CD only, for now) on 1 February next year and fans can pre-order a SIGNED copy from Trevor’s online store. There is also a 2CD edition in Japan that adds a disc of instrumental versions.

80 responses to Trevor Horn / Reimagines: The Eighties

I’m just very excited and can not wait for the CD, I will sit back with my son and enjoy what Trevor is going to deliver. It’s this music and the re releasing of it that should bring a smile to all of us – not the opinionated music snobbery I’ve read. Have we all forgotten what Frankie said “Relax”. Thank you Trevor Horn for giving generations so much.

I have just heard Seal’s version of Ashes to Ashes from this album on the Graham Norton radio show, where Horn was promoting the album. It’s an excellent interpretation – all strings and symphony rather than the synths of the original. But it’s a considerate interpretation and Seal’s vocals are excellent. Really good – I hope the rest of the album is just as good.

Frankly, Trevor Horn has more than earned the right to do whatever he wants musically. Am I looking forward to hearing the cover of Blue Monday? No. Will it be as bad as Paul Young’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’? Very possibly. However I’m listening to the TFF cover as I type, and those awesome string lines are so reminiscent of the ZTT pedigree, and highlight what a brilliant song EWTRTW is. Knock yerself out Trev.

Wow ,some very negative comments!I will be looking foward to its release in febuary all being well.Should help brighten up the winter.I will avoid hearing any tracks from it till then.Simple minds,tony hadley and steve hogarth sounds good to me.Maybe we will get a set of new songs from Trevor at some point that would be very intresting.Loved the Return trip version of fly from here by Yes so much better than the orginal version which of course was also produced by trev!!

Covers are fine but I don’t want to hear an orchestral version of Blue Monday (and be warned – Hooky is threatening to do Joy Division with strings…Hooky’d on Classics anyone?)

The Beatles comparison isn’t valid. They didn’t slather those old songs in Strings to make them more ‘easy listening’. They played those tunes in their own style adding some early 60s Liverpool grot to Motown/R&B grooves and created something visceral and exciting that informed their own compositions.
This is just more James Last-ification of OUR pop culture, dampening down anything too thrilling and making it all middlebrow and syrupy.

That has no logic, so it’s ok for the Beatles to play in their own style but not for Horn?

If you don’t like it, then that’s fine but this idea that some of these covers are blasphemous is crazy.
I love TFF and the Big Chair album is something close to my heart as I grew up with it but let’s not pretend a cover of Rule the world is wrong. It’s a fun pop song, it’s not something untouchable!
Horn has added a real uplifting element to it, not schmaltz.
If he pushed it with radio this could actually be a big hit

Paul as I said I’ve no problem with covers and I don’t think Blue Monday or any other song is a sacred cow. Do a heavy metal version of Blue Monday, do a K-Pop version or play it backwards man I don’t care. The point I was making was The Beatles covered those songs in their own way, and it was instinctive and driven by them just wanting to play those songs live (“mak show”) and ended up putting their own spin on it. This Horn project is totally driven by the current, tedious trend of adding a Classical/Strings spin on everything – Gary Numan is doing it, Echo and His Bunnymen are doing it, Beach Boys are doing it – and we’ve got Hacienda Classical and Ibiza Classical which are about creating orchestral versions of dance tunes. Music is about the collision of harmonics, textures and groove that happens when a certain combination of people and machines interact, add a great song and the magic really happens. Going back to something that was already magical, shoehorning a string section sawing away on top of song is just artless, pointless and pure Pebble Mill.

I totally agree with you. The same goes for elvis presley who sang some great if not better versions of other peoples songs and vise versa. Not a robbie williams fan but sings this song very well. I will be buying it.

The majority of the songs that the Beatles covered were unknown in the UK and weren’t considered classics in the US, they weren’t universally well known songs. The difference is the songs on this album are well known because the original artist recording Are classics which are burnt into our brains. Nobody is saying they cannot be covered but as with a lot of 1980s records the songs weren’t that great but they were great recordings. Blue Monday is a great record with great arrangement but there isn’t much of an actual song compared to say True Faith, Regret or Dream Attack. Trevor Horn or not he isn’t going to improve on that 1983 recording, same as if whoever’s today’s hot producer is tackled Relax or Two tribes, which again were great records not necessarily amazing songs. I think a lot of people here are miffed as it seems a waste of Trevor’s time and talent. Next year is the 40th anniversary of Video killed the radio star and I would love a deluxe edition of the age of plastic. But at the end of the day it’s up to him what projects he works on.

Its a shame that some of these comments are so snotty. Like it or not Trevor Horn is one of only a few artists and producers who can truly claim to have truly influenced the 80’s. Ordered and I’m personally looking forward to enjoying this and then putting it on the shelf with both original and remixed and re-released ZTT albums and CD’s.

You always have the choice not to buy it as with any item on SDE so stop whinging.

As usual musical snobbery alert! People wanting to be seen to like music for the sake of being cool. This is Trevor’s record and its his sound – it sounds great. He decided how Robbie sings it and frankly I think he did a good job – its joyous and uplifting.
Robbie is very off putting as he appears to be a jerk but underneath that he does have a good voice and is very prodigious in terms of side projects.
At some point when his stuff comes up for reissuing the number of B sides and project tracks to collate will be huge

lol music for elevators..trust me going on that tune..if were tears for fears I’d serve an injunction…sorry but that it totally bland and quite frankly lets Trevor down..I did however like the midge your orchestral a while back.

Steve, are you sure it was the Trevor Horn version you heard (which afaik isn’t yet available anywhere) … and not the 80s Symphonic version with the London Studio Orchestra which is currently being played on radio?

Although the album on which It’s Different For Girls appears was released in 1979, the single wasn’t released, and didn’t chart in the UK until January 1980; Rightly or wrongly, I suspect TH is using this basis to include the song.

Big fan of Trevor Horn and a lot of the output on ZTT back in the day, truly a groundbreaking producer. This seems like low hanging fruit to me though.

I still remember him being in the audience of a Seal concert years ago – Seal pointed him out and thanked him towards the end of the show. I got more star struck seeing him than the artist on stage. If I’d only known I would have brought along one of my copies of Welcome to the Pleasuredome (or maybe Lexicon of Love) to get it signed.

Sigh. Just the idea anyone thinks Robbie Williams is still within a decade of his imperial phase and worth mentioning in a press release or bothering to work with so he can do that off-Broadway Vegas impression of his suggests someone needs to perhaps just stop now.

I think the Robbie track sounds great and really look forward to hearing Steve Hogarth’s take on It’s Different For Girls (he has a terrific pop sensibility underneath the proggy outer shell). These projects have their place, some of us like them and can judge for their merits based on execution and our own tastes for these sort of things. Others don’t need to listen if they don’t want to. That is the beauty of music.

Listened to “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” and the orchestration is excellent, especially the back half. I don’t think Robbie Williams has quite the negative connotations in the US as he does elsewhere, and while I didn’t love his vocal, I didn’t think it was terrible (except for the “Say…” bit, which was a bit ugly). It could work. I’m not counting it out yet.

Hating playing Rule the World in my old band because the vocal line required strength in a wide range of notes and lots of precision. Some I don’t have, and I’m not sure Robbie Williams does either. Interesting choice…

That was my first thought too. I think Robbie is a great singer, but the song is likely out of his range (I haven’t listened yet). Several other TFF songs would have been better choices, if you ask me…

You: “Horn is a genius and can work with anyone he wants.”
Also you: “Horn is a total idiot for wanting to pick who he picks.”
Sounds very expertly.
You could have spent at least half a thought on the curious fact that when a genius of a producer picks someone to feature on his gigs and albums he might have put serious thought into it. Hm. Could it be that that “guy” proved himself to be a proper musician on top of his outstanding voice?

Rumer has a wonderful voice. However, accepting that this may be close-minded, I’m out. At the mention of Robbie Williams doing Tears for Fears, I felt like someone had just walked over my grave. Sacrilege! I never want to hear it.

Rumer and an orchestral Slave To The Rhythm could actually be excellent. The rest of it I’m not going to even listen to I’m afraid – except maybe a Doctor-Who-like listen from behind the sofa with my hands over my ears to Blue Monday.

Many years ago I went to a small venue in Notting Hill (can’t remember the venue exactly) to see Trevor Horn play live, along with a host of guest vocalists. The stand-out surprise for me that night was the live version of Slave To The Rhythm with Alison Moyet on vocals – simply brilliant.

Just listening on Apple Music. It’s a bit grim a concept but the production is clean – as you’d expect. Why do singers decide to sing the wrong notes? Robbie has a key line all wrong. Clearly on purpose.

Trevor is/was a genius, I love most of his work but this, like the other 80s orchestra album is band wagon jumping exercise. Wish we could have a third Buggles album or further Art of noise material. I am only interested in Seal’s interpretation of Ashes to Ashes from this.

Trevor just has a way of making stuff sound fantastic and as a starting point that was superb. I won’t buy it just yet as I have enough shiny things around that I don’t play but if it comes out on a double elpee I will be in like Flint. Ashes to Ashes with Seal is the one I would like to hear next. I am having a bit of a Trevor Horn moment recently with the Buggles on You Tube devouring many hours whilst I work. That Princes Trust concert is superb.

I like the “odd” line up of vocalists…..only one I don’t know is Rumer…(just googled…it’s a her) but she has a great song to get to grips with….

Rumer aka Sarah Joyce is one of my fave current female artists…what got my attention with her was the Karen Carpenter comparisons and association with Burt Bacharach…all true but she is her own artist, I collect her stuff and she is great live…check out the episode of “Live At Daryl’s House” that she is on…she is lovely, brilliant and fun…then again, I am biased because I’ve seen her live numerous times and got to know her a bit too…she does tour every coupla years, she lives in the US now and is a new mum, so her time away is much deserved…any new Rumer track is great news and overall, this looks great, inspired choices too…the cover looks like a companion piece to his recent vinyl release, pink?? May have to get both now…

I agree. My blasphemous opinion is that Drama is the best Yes album, and I wish it had been successfully enough to keep Trevor and Geoff on for more albums. Trevor and Chris Squire’s voices blended beautifully and it’s unfortunate how few recordings there are with Trevor singing.